Hero's nephew, namesake to welcome Travis letter

Denton County Sheriff WIlliam B. Travis is the fifth-great nephew of William Barret Travis

Photo By David Minton/Denton Record Chronicle DRC

Newly elected Denton County Sheriff William Travis is sworn in by 431st District Judge Jonathan Bailey in the Commissioners Courtroom in the Courthouse on the Square, Tuesday, January 1, 2013, in Denton, TX. David Minton/DRC

Denton County Sheriff Will Travis.

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Lt. Col. William B. Travis was the commander at the Alamo during the 1836 siege.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Mark Lambert, Deputy Commissioner of Archives and Records with the Texas General Land Office, makes adjustment to and tests the locked and sealed case that will be home to the Travis Letter, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, at the Alamo.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Bruce Winders, right, Curator and Historian at the Alamo, explains to Deb Johnson of Iowa, that the historical Travis Letter will be on display in the case, center, from Feb. 23-March 7. Mark Lambert, Deputy Commissioner of Archives and Records with the Texas General Land Office, made adjustment to and tested the locked and sealed case that will be home to the Travis Letter, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, at the Alamo.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Mark Lambert, center left, Deputy Commissioner of Archives and Records with the Texas General Land Office, discusses the care that will be required for the original Travis Letter that will be on display at the Alamo Feb. 23 - March 7. The letter at right,is a facsimile of the Travis Letter.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Mark Lambert, center, Deputy Commissioner of Archives and Records with the Texas General Land Office, makes adjustment to, and tests the locked and sealed case, containing a facsimile of the Travis Letter on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, at the Alamo, that will be home to the Travis Letter. The original document will be on display at the shrine Feb. 23 - March 7. Daniel Alonzo, left, Archivist with TGLO, assists Lambert.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Mark Lambert, right, Deputy Commissioner of Archives and Records with the Texas General Land Office, and Daniel Alonzo, Archivist with the TGLO, check conditions, on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, inside the case where a facsimile of the Travis Letter rests, where the original document will reside from Feb. 23 - March 7, at the Alamo.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Daniel Alonzo, Archivist for the Texas General Land Office, takes a light temperature reading off a facsimile of the Travis Letter, which will be replaced with the original document, Feb. 23 - March 7, at the Alamo.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Sarah Norris, Conservator in Archives and Information Services at Texas State Library and Archives Commission, cares for the original "victory or death" letter, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, written by William Barret Travis, which will be on display, returning to the Alamo later this month, for the first time since 1836.

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Lt. Col. William Barret Travis' “victory or death” letter will be on display at the Alamo for 13 days.

Denton County Sheriff Will Travis

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Live coverage

mySA.com: See a live video stream of the arrival of the Travis Letter beginning at 4 p.m. and read real-time details on The Downtown Blog. Also, relive the 13-day siege of the Alamo through "live daily coverage" created by the Express-News.

It was not until he crossed the Sabine River into Texas as a young man that Denton County Sheriff Will Travis learned of his family ties to the legendary Alamo commander, and his namesake.

Today, it's with a heavy burden of responsibility that the fifth-great nephew of Lt. Col. William Barret Travis will recite the stirring prose of the famed “victory or death” letter, as the original document returns to the Alamo for the first time since it was written in 1836.

The 50-year-old North Texas law officer, a Mississippi native, has been rehearsing his voice inflections, trying to capture his ancestor's passion, for the 4 p.m. ceremony at the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

“He died very young,” at 26, the sheriff said. “Obviously, it will be sad, and serious. But at the same time, you're excited. There will have to be at least a nominal amount of personal emotion, because it was written under duress.”

The letter, composed as Alamo defenders were surrounded at least 10-to-1 by Mexican forces, will be on display for 13 days, from Saturday to March 7, for the 177th anniversary of the siege and battle. In the letter, Travis wrote that he was prepared to “die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country.”

He would be among the first of 189 Texian and tejano rebels to fall in the predawn assault March 6, 1836.

The sheriff with the same name — though he spells his middle name with two t's — said he's tried to “protect that heritage” since he learned about it in 1985.

Like his forebear, who traveled here from Alabama to clear his debts, Will Travis came to Texas in his early 20s, having earned a degree in public administration at the University of Mississippi.

During the drive, his father told him about the family's ties to one of the most celebrated figures in Texas history.

Having served as a Dallas policeman and a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration before working in private business and taking office as sheriff Jan. 1, Travis said he's humbled to be asked to read the letter, though he's only speaking for about 90 seconds.

Being in charge of a law enforcement agency with some 600 employees, Travis, a direct descendant of one of the Alamo commander's 10 siblings, has pondered what his famed ancestor felt as he poured his thoughts on paper.

“On some level, I understand just how the guy feels,” he said. “But the weight of responsibility, at that age ... I can't even imagine.”

The Denton Record-Chronicle reported that Will Travis noted his ties to the Alamo and used the phrase, “It's time to draw a line in the sand” in his campaign. According to media reports, he has had a fairly smooth first two months in office, with plans to target drug smuggling and human trafficking north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

According to the Record-Chronicle, Sheriff Travis spent more than $102,000 of his own money, outspending his key opponent more than 7-to-1, but refused to accept campaign contributions because he “didn't want to be beholden to anyone.” He unseated a Republican incumbent and had no Democratic challenge.

Both chambers of the Legislature recently passed resolutions commemorating the letter's return to the Alamo, where “all people can better appreciate its impact on the foundations of Texas freedom.”

A highway patrol escort will travel to San Antonio with the letter from Austin, where it is kept by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The Texas General Land, Alamo custodian, raised private funds for the exhibition.

In a recent statement, Gov. Rick Perry thanked the two state agencies and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Alamo's contract operator, “for their efforts to bring this remarkable man's words back to the Alamo for the first time.”

At today's ceremony, an honor guard will accompany the letter into the Alamo chapel, where it will be kept in a custom-made bulletproof case.

The letter, very fragile and appraised at $1.2 million, will be transported in a fine arts shipping crate, and will not be seen by the public until 9 a.m. Saturday, when the free exhibition begins.